Emily Harvey's leg was amputated when she was 2 because she had a condition called fibular hemimelia, which means she was missing her fibula bone and her left leg was substantially shorter than her right. She grew up not really knowing any different, and even asked her grandma at some point when she got her first prosthesis because Emily had it in her head that everyone wore a prosthesis (for the record, her grandma does not wear a prosthesis). She played t-ball & volleyball, rode bikes, climbed trees (much to her dad’s dismay), and did pretty much everything else her friends were doing.
Emily started riding horses when she was about 9 years old, quickly got into 3-day eventing, and eventually rode on her college dressage team. She didn’t ride much after college, but she started competing in triathlons in 2014 and discovered this to be a new passion. She started with sprint distance triathlons and completed her first Half Ironman in June of 2016. Shortly after that event, Emily was episode 37 of this podcast and shared her story in depth. She also mentioned that she just may tackle an Ironman someday. That day came in June 2018 as Emily became an "Ironman" with 48 seconds to spare at the relentlessly hot Boulder Ironman.
In addition to her athletic pursuits, she is also a disability rights attorney at a nonprofit called Disability Law Colorado, co-founder and President of LIM359 – an activities-based support group for people with limb loss/different, an ambassador captain for Skirt Sports and their #realwomenmove campaign, and a member of TeamMPI.